#let me know if not :))

[mae-i-scribble]

Having recently gone through the beginning of orv bc i adore the webtoon, i really have to be in awe at the amazing way orv presents the character vs person argument in the first third of it’s story. Because I would say up until after the demon king selection arc orv is can be assumed to be an isekai/power leveling fantasy deconstruction. And as and entire novel, it is somewhat, but it moreso encompasses themes much broader than a genre deconstruction, along with kinda throwing out that typical story structure halfway through to do its own thing.

And personally how orv goes about presenting the character vs person argument is not only the best i’ve seen in an isekai context, it sets up a very nuanced interpretation of how kdj sees the “characters” around him that is not just “oh he saw [insert name here] as a character until [some event].” Nor is it “oh kdj refuses to understand the people around him because he only sees them as a character.” From the beginning kdj has been shown to realize that the people around him weren’t simply characters following a script, and out of every character who read the WoS novel, he’s by far the one who treats them with the most humanity, even if his assumptions on their behavior are flawed. I’ll only be talking about the beginning sections of orv in this because while the entire novel build on that character vs person conflict, this beginning section is where it is best presented as a deconstruction of genre tropes. It also is what is responsible for setting the groundwork for those big moments later on in the novel, and without this section of story establishing Dokja’s perspective on the issue those moments would lose their tension.

I’m not really going into this with any sort of proper essay format or organization of thoughts besides for vaguely chronological, so if things are all over the place I apologize in advance.

While orv begins with Dokja sort of “shell shocked” at the novel he’s followed for so long coming to life around him. At this point, he very much treats Namwoon, Hyunsung, and Joonghyuk as characters only. He kills Namwoon out of personal dislike and the belief that Namwoon would never change his psychopathic ways. Hyunsung he admires, making comments along the lines of “i never imagined i would be able to meet his character in real life.” Joonghyuk is a similar story only with far more disdain, because Dokja realizes just what a bastard Joonghyuk is at this point. I do think it’s important to know that while Dokja was ultimately wrong about Namwoon, he was absolutely correct in reading Joonghyuk’s intentions when they first meet on the bridge. So even when Dokja sees novel characters as being ripped straight from the pages, he is not completely right nor completely wrong in his understanding of them as people.

As we are introduced to more novel characters with Jihye heralding Joonghyuk’s return, the most important thing to examine with the character vs person aspect is how Dokja interacts and interprets their actions. And for all purposes, there is not a single difference in how he treats party members like Sangah and Heewon vs Joonhyuk or Jihye. None of how he presents himself changes drastically, regardless of the status of the person. The only thing that changes is the fact that he knows what to say to poke and prod at them in the ways he wants to, whether to motivate, or to annoy, etc etc, because he has such extensive knowledge of them from following their story. And even then, even then Dokja has those assumptions shoved in his face when Joonghyuk occupies one of the hidden safe zones during the 3rd scenario. If he were any less resourceful then that assumption would have cost him his life, and he clearly recognizes it as such. When Hyunsung mentions how it seems Dokja has known him for a long time, Dokja doesn’t brush it off or treat it as a useless comment, he recognizes the weight of what Hyunsung is saying- of what he himself is doing by pretending to be a distant friend while knowing so many details of Hyunsung’s life, and it clearly bothers him a bit. Already, Dokja is moving away from the perspective seeing novel characters as characters only, because from the beginning all the novel “characters” are asserting their agency and personhood.

The next major moments come with the cinema dungeon, first up being the scene when the company is in the titanic movie. When Jihye moves to kill the simulations, saying that it doesn’t matter because they’re real and the simulation is just a character, Dokja is left looking on to think over her words. Again, his perspective is challenged and Dokja seriously considers the implications of such. When they get to the sea battle reenactment, and Jihye breaks down, Dokja doesn’t use his knowledge of her as a “character” to convince her to stand up again. He tells her his honest thoughts, the same attitude he’s shown to Gilyoung and Sangah and Heewon. That she isn’t wrong for wanting to survive. That she cannot atone for her actions with death but must live on. Frankly, I have a hard time believing that such an emotionally charged speech comes from any point of distancing the same way one would if they only considered a person to be a character who needed the right catchphrases.

Concerning the fight between Dokja and Joonghyuk in the cinema dungeon, I actually don’t think it has much to add to this character vs person argument orv is building, but it does go to show that even if it were true that Dokja sees all WoS people as being characters only, that perspective is not without emotion or humanity. Dokja wasn’t simply a reader watching over a story, when he read WoS he was fighting alongside these characters, urging them to keep going, to keep fighting for a better world.

Now, next up comes the most important distinction, and one of orv’s best ideas when it comes to expanding on this character vs person conflict: introducing other readers of WoS. Now Dokja is our baseline to compare to others in similar standing to him, and the results are incredibly telling. The apostles refuse to even acknowledge any novel character as human, let alone treat them with decency. When Dokja confronts them about it, they shrug it off, claiming its sad that these characters don’t even know they’re characters. When attacking Dokja’s station, they target Jihye specifically because she is a character, reveling in beating/humiliating her. This is what it means to only see a character as a character, and it is nothing like what Dokja has been doing.

After that, we get the other brilliant twist that when apostles reach a point past where they read, they become “characters,” complete with acting as if other character have always been a part of the world. This, to me, is when Dokja stops separating the people from the characters. In a world where a person can become labelled as a character under his skill, who’s to say what the difference is? Certainly not Dokja, who even when he did have that distinction changed very little about how he treated them. Now it’s simply people he read about in WoS vs people he did not.

A small sidenote here regarding Sooyoung, while being an author herself, she’s certainly much more scathing in her interactions with who she considers a “character,” and while not quite touched upon in the webtoon, she tends to deny the agency of those she considers characters far longer than Dokja ever did. Although the two of them end up in very similar positions later down the line.

Now, all of this is not to say that Dokja seeing Joonghyuk and co as characters first doesn’t impact his relationship with them, because it undeniably does. But none of that shows in how Dokja treats them, it shows in how he perceives their intentions, most notably with Joonghyuk. But considering that as the sole reason why Dokja does so is to ignore the fact that Dokja is not the best at interpreting any sort of positive emotion directed towards him, even more so in the very,,, roundabout way Joonghyuk goes about showing that he trusts Dokja and regards him highly. He has no idea how high a pedestal his little gang is setting him on despite spending literally all of his time around them. When people like Hyunsung and Sangah mention wanting to get to know him more he’s completely befuddles as to why they would even want to.

Additionally, citing the fourth wall as responsible for creating the distance between Dokja and WoS characters doesn’t hold up to me because the fourth wall creates a distance from anyone and everyone, regardless of status. It lets him perceive all of reality as fiction, not just the cherry picked portions. Thus creating another layer of non-distinction for him- equally distant from everything and everyone, the only person in the world who can see it quite the way he does.

Another argument that can definitely be made in more detail is that Dokja’s understanding of Joonghyuk as a character in the beginning is the key factor in letting their relationship blossom. Had Dokja not known what he does, had treated Joonghyuk in reverence like the other apostles do rather than the bastardy coniving way of his, Joonghyuk never would have opened up. What makes Dokja stand out to Joonghyuk is that he keeps challenging the regressor. Challenging him and winning. It’s the speech in the cinema master dungeon where Joonghyuk realizes Dokja cares about him far more than he realized, even if he cannot comprehend how or why.

Anyways, I won’t go any further than that, and if anyone made it this far, here have a cookie for your troubles thank you for sifting through all that. While I think a lot of what I’m saying is like, basic textual shit that doesn’t deserve such a long post for, it still means a lot to me to say it. I feel like the most common fandom interpretations of the character vs person argument and the fourth wall at the beginning of orv so greatly oversimplify and honestly ignore what orv is trying to say in a bad faith reading of the text. Whereas Dokja’s growth is far more complex and subtle than just “he stopped seeing people as characters.”

#orv #omniscient reader #kim dokja #yoo joonghyuk #joongdok #while not a romantic post it is regarding their relationship which i consider inherently romantic so- #should be webtoon only reader friendly #let me know if not #anyways this is too many words for one night never let me do this again

[salemontrial]

At first I was like "hmmmm shadowbunny<3" as a joke. But bro. I don't think it's a joke anymore.

#why would i do this to her she deserves so much better/j #BUT ALSO............... them #lmk #lego monkie kid #monkie kid #lmk chang'e #lmk macaque #lmk six eared macaque #monkie kid chang'e #monkie kid macaque #macaque x chang'e #chang'e x macaque #lmk shadowbunny #shadowbunnyshipping #<-I think thats their name????? it makes sense #let me know if not

[squid-nerds]

CUTE TORNAMENT!!

Round one is now commencing until tomorrow at 7PM CST!!! Everyone was placed in random brackets and I'm using strawpoll links for the polls (I don't like twitter much so I hope y'all don't mind that) The winner will get a lengthy comic about their lore or a small date with their S.O! (whichever idea comes first)

LETS GOOOOOOO

Yuuto versus Camila

Mia versus Léandre

Kado versus Trent

Emilio versus Tamae

Octo Cop versus Mocha

Rocco versus Milo

Ayame versus Mikki

Wesley versus Lily

Here's the bracket too if you want to view for reference!

Sorry for all this random shit ksjdfkadsj this seemed like mad fun

After 7PM tomorrow, I'll set up more polls for round 2!!!

#ads should also be removed #let me know if not #hehehehehehe #round 1 #my art

[notesonartistry]

“Well, there’s an entire universe inside Taylor Swift’s mind that we haven’t tapped into yet — maybe we’ve tapped into 1 percent of what she can accomplish because of her music,” Shiffrin said. “And I think about my skiing in a similar way. I’m closer now to reaching my potential, but it’s not about a record or another title."

Liked this article where Mikaela Shiffrin talked about how inspiring she finds Taylor as someone who is also achieving amazing things in her career.

#nyt #mikaela shiffrin #plus she went to the denver show #as all the best peeps did 😉 #i think i copied a gift url #let me know if not

[feilien]

{♚ x @astremourante x}

 Just another day in paradise. Or something like that, anyway. Matt was collecting money — one might call it protection money —  from local businesses; work that should be way beneath him. Grunt work, so to speak. And yet, his grandfather insisted on him doing it. Matt had learned a long time ago not to question the reasons why and simply complied, doing whatever was asked of him.

 On the bright side, at least when he went to collect the money, it only took him rather than a posse of three or more men. Not because he inspired enough fear to make them comply (which he certainly could, if he wanted to; his skills could easily be lethal), but because he was on considerably better terms with them than anyone else in the clan thanks to the way he handled things.

 Walking out of the last store on his route, Matt didn't really pay attention where was walking, too busy counting the money to make sure it was all there. At least until he ran head-first into someone. Stumbling back a couple of steps, he easily regained his balance and tucked the money into his pocket before bowing his head. "I apologize, I wasn't—" Stopping mid-sentence, he took another step back, his body-language immediately turning defensive as his eyes landed on her face. "You. I remember you. What the fuck are you doing here?" 

#{♚ x v; You lost that right to hold that crown; I built you up but you let me down. [MAIN] x} #astremourante #I hope this works <3 #Let me know if not

[lazylittledragon]

can't believe we're all adults being forced into the club penguin level of censorship in 2024

#ramble #if you say unalive in front of me i will personally kill you with my hands #you just can't muffle and censor and hold someone's hand through some things #some things are horrible. and they should be spoken aloud and they should upset you. because they are horrible #the second we started kidzbopifying the world was the end of taking anything seriously i think #i'm not even joking i've spoken to people older than me who won't even say the world sex #this isn't the playground you're not going to get in trouble just let us say the word!!!!!! #how am i supposed to listen to you when you won't even say the thing you're supposed to be talking about #yes this is the fault of the platforms with their censorship rules but the fact that we all just go along with it like it's not dystopian #you do know it doesn't stop with cursing right. people are already having to censor queer terms because they get flagged as inappropriate

[lgbtlunaverse]

The world exists in such a baffling state of simultaneous sex-aversion and sex-hegemony. Every social platform on the internet is trying to banish sex workers to the shadow realm but I can't post a tweet without at least two bots replying P U S S Y I N B I O. People are self-censoring sex to seggs and $3× but every other ad you see is still filled with half-naked women. Rightwingers want queer people arrested for so much as existing in the same postal code as a child and are also drumming up a moral panic about how teenage boys aren't getting laid enough. I feel like I'm losing my mind.

#it's bad if you want i have sex it's also bad if you DON'T want to have sex #god forbid if you're a woman in a heterosexual marriage and aren't in the mood #that's 'withholding sex' and you're clearly abusive scum who should be divorced and left without any of your shared assets. #but if you DO have sex now you're a degenerate freak plotting for the downfall of western society #i don't know what to say i'm just so tired #politics #culture #queerphobia #lgbtqia #misogyny #<it's not the exclusive source but let's be honest sooo much of this is integral to the patriarchy #patriarchy needs access to an underclass they can treat like sex objects but they also don't want them to have any human rights #so sexuality is both obligatory and stigmatized #purity culture #i'm really struggling with tagging this because most of the appropiate tags would- in a beautiful twist of irony- get me booted off tumblr

[coldgoldlazarus]

I want to see a work of fiction that reverses the "vampires are snobby upper class, werewolves are brutish lower class" stereotypes

#not a reblog #vampires #werewolves #if anything like this already exists please let me know

[onefey]

you're going about your normal day when, suddenly, surprise! you've been pokémon mystery dungeon'd!

unfortunately, due to budget cuts, the pokémon assigning quiz has been canceled. instead, you must spin THE WHEEL, assigning you a random, unevolved, non-legendary and non-mythical pokémon. you must now go on some sort of world-saving adventure as this pokémon. good luck!

tell me in the tags what you rolled, and how you feel about it - for bonus points, you can spin the wheel again for (or just take your pick of) a pokémon to be your partner.

bonus rules:

you're not shiny unless the wheel tells you you're shiny

take your pick of regional forms and evolutions (for example, if you roll vulpix, it's up to you whether that means normal or alolan vulpix)

apply whatever logic you like with regards to gender

have fun and be yourself!

#pokemon #pkmn #pokemon mystery dungeon #pmd #tag games #someone might've done this concept already but i had a worm in my brain you know. #i thought itd be fun to list all the unevolved pokemon... now i know there's only around 400 evolution lines total! #.. not counting mythicals legendaries ultra beasts or paradoxes #by the way! alongside the shiny result there are two other bonus results: an obligatory pikachu and... a surprise!!! #finally feel free to let me know if i misspelled something or accidentally included an evolved mon (other than pikachu) #sorry long tags ha 😅 i'm done now

[taffybuns]

if anyone has money to spare for donations, im forwarding more links for palestinian aid

CareforGaza is a nonprofit that provides direct aid to Palestine, and you can donate directly here

Operation Olive Branch is a document that lists evacuating families that need assistance, which gives information on the families, the urgency, and tracks the progress of their fundraisers

eSims for Gaza lists very clear instructions on how to purchase e-sims to keep them connected, they are urgently in demand

Here is a project that distributes feminine hygiene kits directly to Gaza

Mutual Aid Diabetes has channels set up for you to donate insulin and medication to diabetics in Gaza, as well as lists fundraisers for diabetics seeking to evacuate

please keep sharing and adding links on this site, please add more if i'd missed any, and please don't stop talking about Palestine.

#free palestine #palestine #gaza #<tags for boost let me know what boosts further? im seeing these more on twitter than tumblr so im trying to add to the traction here too

[anonbeadraws]

I made a Room Building tutorial! Lemme know if it helps! 🧡

Tip me here| Commission info here!

#anonbeadraws #digital #art tutorial #tutorial #room building #room design #illustration #gif #digital art #digital tutorial #art help #art resource #let me know if it helps! #tried to make it as simple as I could

[mx-piggy]

it's very disheartening to see that Palestine or Gaza is no longer the highest trending tag on Tumblr so early on in Global Strike week, especially considering how many people have said they still need to work and buy food (100% valid, by the way). don't lose momentum. keep talking about what's happening. keep reblogging and sharing useful resources and information. we need the Palestinian people to know that we see what's happening to them, we care about what's happening to them and we stand with them. Percy Jackson and Tumblr Live are no where near as important as the genocide of Palestinian people.

#palestine #free palestine #gaza #free gaza #let me know if you think this post is overstepping and I'll gladly delete it

[tofixtheshadows]

I've been thinking a lot lately about how Kabru deprives himself.

Kabru as a character is intertwined with the idea that sometimes we have to sacrifice the needs of the few for the good of the many. He ultimately subverts this first by sabotaging the Canaries and then by letting Laios go, but in practice he's already been living a life of self-sacrifice.

Saving people, and learning the secrets of the dungeons to seal them, are what's important. Not his own comforts. Not his own desires. He forces them down until he doesn't know they're there, until one of them has to come spilling out during the confession in chapter 76.

Specifically, I think it's very significant, in a story about food and all that it entails, that Kabru is rarely shown eating. He's the deuteragonist of Dungeon Meshi, the cooking manga, but while meals are the anchoring points of Laios's journey, given loving focus, for Kabru, they're ... not.

I'm sure he eats during dungeon expeditions, in the routine way that adventurers must when they sit down to camp. But on the surface, you get the idea that Kabru spends most of his time doing his self-assigned dungeon-related tasks: meeting with people, studying them, putting together that evidence board, researching the dungeon, god knows what else. Feeding himself is secondary.

He's introduced during a meal, eating at a restaurant, just to set up the contrast between his party and Laios's. And it's the last normal meal we see him eating until the communal ending feast (if you consider Falin's dragon parts normal).

First, we get this:

Kabru's response here is such a non-answer, it strongly implies to me that he wasn't thinking about it until Rin brought it up. That he might not even be feeling the hunger signals that he logically knew he should.

They sit down to eat, but Kabru is never drawn reaching for food or eating it like the rest of his party. He only drinks.

It's possible this means nothing, that we can just assume he's putting food in his mouth off-panel, but again, this entire manga is about food. Cooking it, eating it, appreciating it, taking pleasure in it, grounding yourself in the necessary routine of it and affirming your right to live by consuming it. It's given such a huge focus.

We don't see him eat again until the harpy egg.

What a significant question for the protagonist to ask his foil in this story about eating! Aren't you hungry? Aren't you, Kabru?

He was revived only minutes ago after a violent encounter. And then he chokes down food that causes him further harm by triggering him, all because he's so determined to stay in Laios's good graces.

In his flashback, we see Milsiril trying to spoon-feed young Kabru cake that we know he doesn't like. He doesn't want to eat: he wants to be training.

Then with Mithrun, we see him eating the least-monstery monster food he can get his hands on, for the sake of survival- walking mushroom, barometz, an egg. The barometz is his first chance to make something like an a real meal, and he actually seems excited about it because he wants to replicate a lamb dish his mother used to make him!

...but he doesn't get to enjoy it like he wanted to.

Then, when all the Canaries are eating field rations ... Kabru still isn't shown eating. He's only shown giving food to Mithrun.

And of course the next time he eats is the bavarois, which for his sake is at least plant based ... but he still has to use a coping mechanism to get through it.

I don't think Kabru does this all on purpose. I think Kui does this all on purpose. Kabru's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder should be understood as informing his character just as much as Laios's autism informs his. It's another way that Kabru and Laios act as foils: where Laios takes pleasure in meals and approaches food with the excitement of discovery, Kabru's experiences with eating are tainted by his trauma. Laios indulges; Kabru denies himself. Laios is shown enjoying food, Kabru is shown struggling with it.

And I can very easily imagine a reason why Kabru might have a subconscious aversion towards eating.

Meals are the privilege of the living.

#Dungeon Meshi #Delicious in Dungeon #Kabru #Kabru of Utaya #Laios Touden #Dungeon Meshi meta #you can have him in the tags too. as a treat. #Dungeon Meshi spoilers #this was directly inspired by livelaughlaios's post about Kabru self harming but I decided it got too long to make it a direct reply #this is a theory I've been working on for weeks because I kept noticing this while skimming for screencaps #I'm hesitant to trigger tag this because of the way certain subcultures on tumblr operate #but if anyone needs me to add a content warning please let me know #also I included image descriptions! I did my best #I think they even help illustrate my points but my god were they sad to write. Kabru is so fucking sad you guys #musings with Dea

[fantastic-nonsense]

#god: rosalynn you've lived such a long and wonderful life #what would you like me to send to your beloved husband to let him know you're being taken care of? a bird? a rainbow? a random sunbeam? #rosalynn: kill henry kissinger. he'll know I asked. :)))) #jimmy carter #rosalynn carter #henry kissinger #us politics #world politics

[inkskinned]

because sometimes there are invisible tests and invisible rules and you're just supposed to ... know the rule. someone you thought of as a friend asks you for book recommendations, so you give her a list of like 30 books, each with a brief blurb and why you like it. later, you find out she screenshotted the list and send it out to a group chat with the note: what an absolute freak can you believe this. you saw the responses: emojis where people are rolling over laughing. too much and obsessive and actually kind of creepy in the comments. you thought you'd been doing the right thing. she'd asked, right? an invisible rule: this is what happens when you get too excited.

you aren't supposed to laugh at your own jokes, so you don't, but then you're too serious. you're not supposed to be too loud, but then people say you're too quiet. you aren't supposed to get passionate about things, but then you're shy, boring. you aren't supposed to talk too much, but then people are mad when you're not good at replying.

you fold yourself into a prettier paper crane. since you never know what is "selfish" and what is "charity," you give yourself over, fully. you'd rather be empty and over-generous - you'd rather eat your own boundaries than have even one person believe that you're mean. since you don't know what the thing is that will make them hate you, you simply scrub yourself clean of any form of roughness. if you are perfect and smiling and funny, they can love you. if you are always there for them and never admit what's happening and never mention your past and never make them uncomfortable - you can make up for it. you can earn it.

don't fuck up. they're all testing you, always. they're tolerating you. whatever secret club happened, over a summer somewhere - during some activity you didn't get to attend - everyone else just... figured it out. like they got some kind of award or examination that allowed them to know how-to-be-normal. how to fit. and for the rest of your life, you've been playing catch-up. you've been trying to prove that - haha! you get it! that the joke they're telling, the people they are, the manual they got- yeah, you've totally read it.

if you can just divide yourself in two - the lovable one, and the one that is you - you can do this. you can walk the line. they can laugh and accept you. if you are always-balanced, never burdensome, a delight to have in class, champagne and glittering and never gawky or florescent or god-forbid cringe: you can get away with it.

you stare at your therapist, whom you can make jokes with, and who laughs at your jokes, because you are so fucking good at people-pleasing. you smile at her, and she asks you how you're doing, and you automatically say i'm good, thanks, how are you? while the answer swims somewhere in your little lizard brain:

how long have you been doing this now? mastering the art of your body and mind like you're piloting a puppet. has it worked? what do you mean that all you feel is... just exhausted. pick yourself up, the tightrope has no net. after all, you're cheating, somehow, but nobody seems to know you actually flunked the test. it's working!

aren't you happy yet?

#almost wrote the champagne line as ''effervescent'' but legit could not write it without saying ''effervescent like a snail'' #ah tumblr... #writeblr #warm up #idk . having trouble writing rn #ps i don't like to talk about it . it is my medical information. but before you ask. yes this is about being on the spectrum #i really don't like when ppl make my writing about how im [whatever ID]. i want it to ring true for the people who it rings true for #i don't want it to be like ''awwwww look at this person!!! she's the EXCEPTION!!! :)" ..... #no.... not really..... #idk something gross happens whenever i admit to certain conditions and i turn into like inspiration p*rnography #like yes they actually let us use keyboards these days #furthermore i just... dont feel comfortable talking about this part of me. i had too bad of a childhood. adhd is one thing... #this one im like. still coming to terms with. which is like. my own journey. #idk. just please be kind. some things are more private than others. this one feels private to me. #i do not know how to help others w/this . and i do not know how to help myself. i will talk about it if im ever ready. idk if that will #actually ever happen #ty in advance i love u im kissing you we are kissing somewhere on the spectrum

[laughingcatwrites]

As a reminder that good exists out there, a coworker recently confessed to me that he found out his child is questioning their identity (kid's gender redacted for this post). The kid is keeping it from him, so he can't say anything to them or show that he knows, but he's doing his best to get mentally prepared and educated so that he'll be ready whenever his kid does feel comfortable enough come to him.

For context, this guy is a big, bulky middle aged dude who loves sports and typical outdoor "manly" activities. As his coworker and friend, I know he's a kind and sweet teddy bear of a person, but his kid probably views him as a stern, authoritarian figure, the way most teenagers view their parents. His family lives in a conservative area, so I'm sure between that, their dad's looks and interests, and the fact that their dad is a Figure of Authority, the kid is worried that they won't be accepted.

But you know what? When he found out about his kid, the first thing he did was reach out to his closest queer friend and ask for resources for parents of questioning children. His biggest fears are that his kid will be bullied or discriminated against and won't feel comfortable enough to be themself. His second action was to find himself a mentor in another parent who went the same situation (kid coming out in a conservative town). The other person is preparing him for some of the struggles his kid may face and the fights he may need to take on as a parent to make sure his kid is safe and treated well.

Something I want to emphasize for people focused on language as the primary method of allyship is that when we spoke, he used some outdated terms and thoughts about gender and sexuality. That does not make him bad. These were the terms and thinking used about questioning teenagers when he was growing up and he never needed to learn more current ones. But now that he does have that need, he's throwing himself in head first because that's his kid and he's darn well going to make sure that his kid feels welcomed and has a safe place to be themselves even if they never come out to him.

#I'm so proud and happy for my coworker and I've been trying to figure out how to let him know how amazing I think he is #what gets me the most is that he's keeping this super down low to avoid giving any hints to his kid #he has a lot of queer friends so he already is known as an ally but there's always a chance it will be different if it's family #and he took that chance and crumpled it up into a ball and slam dunked it into the garbage for three points #and decided that even if his kid wants to hide it from him for the rest of his life he will still do what he can to make their life better #pflag #parents doing their best #parenting win #good news #allyship